ROBSERVATIONS: Here’s one for Mom … Anton Amundrud is “awesome” … another award for Harris … 25-17? That’s a new one!

This is the most challenging “easy” column of my career.

Saskatchewan Roughriders win Grey Cup!!!

It should be a layup, right? Then again, when you consider my horrifying history with layups …

Excruciating flashback to 1979: In Grade 9 intramural basketball, I was the first one off the bench — mainly because I was ordered to leave.

When I finally got my chance to dazzle everyone on the court, I was loitering underneath the northeast basket in Campbell Collegiate’s main gymnasium.

I grabbed a rebound and prepared to fatten my lifetime intramural points total to two.

One problem: I hit the rim with the layup attempt.

The bottom of the rim.

There was booing. So much booing. And hissing. Some people, offended by the hissing, responded by booing. A sad, sad scene.

So, uh, yeah … I struggle with layups.

And post-Grey Cup columns, obviously. The problem: Where to start?

How do I summarize or synthesize the past week in the life of a scribbler? There is just so much!

Eventually, I sat back and asked myself: What, or who, have you thought about the most since the Roughriders defeated the Montreal Alouettes 25-17 last Sunday?

Mom.

Everything seems to circle back to G. Helen Vanstone-Mather (1934-2019).

Mom celebrated the Roughriders’ first four Grey Cup victories (1966, 1989, 2007, 2013).

She picked me up at the airport when I got back from Toronto on Nov. 27, 1989.

She met my wife (who has requested anonymity) at the airport on Nov. 30, 2009, following The Grey Cup Game That Shall Not Be Mentioned.

Mom is the reason I love football.

Ultimately, she is the reason I have had two dream jobs — first at the Regina Leader-Post (1986-2023) and now with the Roughriders (2023-present).

Long before I wrote for a living, I was all about football, football, football …

Mom and I went to five Grey Cups, beginning with 1976 and (shudder) The Other Grey Cup Game That Shall Not Be Mentioned.

Even when the Roughriders were not participating, we still went to the Grey Cup (1978, 1979, 1980, 1981).

After the 1989 Grey Cup win, I tried to call Mom from Toronto, ASAP. I found a phone booth (definition available upon request) but alas, all the circuits were jammed. It was impossible to call anywhere in Saskatchewan in the immediate aftermath of Roughriders 43, Hamilton Tiger-Cats 40.

Feeling rightfully guilty that I did not invite Mom to join me at the ’89 final, I reserved a trip to Toronto for her after the Roughriders won the Western Final in 2007.

All she had to do was say yes.

I had given my credit card number to Dave Ash at Dash Tours before calling Mom and offering her an all-expenses-paid trip to Toronto.

She said no. It was a hard no. She didn’t want to be away from her dog, Flutie. (Dog Flutie … get it?)

By 2013, Mom was encountering mobility and breathing issues. Therefore, she was not in the audience when the Roughriders defeated Hamilton 45-23 at dear old Taylor Field.

But she watched the game on TV, inseparable from her Yorkshire terrier, and loved every millisecond of seeing her beloved Riders win.

The next day, she clipped out my stories from the Leader-Post and added to her latest scrapbook, the rest of which filled bins upon bins in her basement.

With all that as background, my immediate

impulse was to call her from Winnipeg last Sunday night.

Yes, I had to write … a lot. There were interviews to be done. Tons of ’em. And there was quite a party.

But I really, really, really wanted to talk to Mom.

I wanted to tell her what it was like.

I wanted her to hear the cheering in the stands … the pandemonium in the dressing room … everything.

I wanted to tell her about how special it was for my friends — it seems too distant or clinical to call them colleagues, because I think the world of everyone who is in the team’s employ.

I wanted to put Corey Mace on the phone and have him talk to Mom. He would have done it, without hesitation. Corey is a gem.

I wanted to thank Trevor Harris on Mom’s behalf, because she would have loved him. She staunchly supported every starting quarterback, even during a playoff drought that swelled to 11 years.

I wanted to see her at the stadium when the team buses pulled in. She would have been right there, brandishing her 1958-model camera, as soon as I got off the bus and began to search for an unmistakeable, somehow unbreakable suitcase that, come to think of it, used to belong to Mom. In fact, it might have belonged to Mom’s mom!

I wanted to take a picture of Mom with the Grey Cup. I wanted someone to take a picture of us with the Grey Cup.

I wanted to give her a handful of green and white confetti — a souvenir from the post-game merriment on the field at Princess Auto Stadium.

I am sure these sentiments are not exclusive to yours truly, because football and family are so wonderfully intrinsically intertwined in our part of the world.

Roughriders season tickets have routinely been handed down through the generations.

How many Riders-themed baby presents have been distributed over the years?

How many dogs have been named Rider?

How many sons have been named Ryder?

The fascination with football is such that I once interviewed a Lloydminster resident named Taylor Field.

The resulting article soon became part of Helen’s scrapbook. She preserved every word I wrote, from 1986 to 2019, even on those grammar-and-consonants-optional days when the story remembered the layup of 1979.

In that spirit, I bring you one more “Mom” story …

One fine day, she called me at work and, with some urgency, asked if I could bring her some additional copies of the newspaper.

“Which day are you looking for?” I responded, proud as could be, after clearly having impressed Mom with my brilliant writing.

“It doesn’t matter,” she replied. “You see, Flutie keeps having these accidents …”

ANTON AMUNDRUD IS “AWESOME”

The University of Saskatchewan Huskies’ Anton Amundrud, who was recently diagnosed with lymphoma, attended the Roughriders’ 2025 training camp as part of the CFL QB Internship Program.

“He’s an awesome kid,” Roughriders quarterback Jack Coan said. “He was kind of like a sponge and he tried to soak up as much as he could.”

Offensive Co-ordinator Marc Mueller, a former Rams quarterback and assistant coach, “always gave him the shots, with the U of R versus the U of S,” Coan added.

Two other current members of the Huskies were at the Roughriders’ training camp this past spring.

Linebacker Seth Hundeby and receiver Daniel Wiebe worked out with the Green and White at Griffiths Stadium and saw pre-season duty after being drafted by Saskatchewan on April 29.

Hundeby, named the top defensive player in Canada West for 2025, was honoured on Thursday as U Sports’ Most Outstanding Standup Defensive Player.

Wiebe, decorated as Canada West’s best player for 2025, was a runner-up for the prestigious Hec Crighton Trophy.

The speedy pass-catcher has 74 catches for 1,209 yards and 13 TDs in 11 games, entering today’s Vanier Cup matchup with the Montreal Carabins (1 p.m., Mosaic Stadium).

Many of Wiebe’s game-breaking plays resulted from collaborations with Amundrud, who threw for 1,604 yards and 14 touchdowns in only five games. He was the nation’s leading passer before health issues forced him to the sideline.

“It was awesome to see him and Daniel Wiebe together (at camp), because they’re such great players,” Coan said. “To see them tear it up this year was awesome.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with Anton.”

ANOTHER HONOUR FOR #7

One day before Saskatchewan won the 112^th Grey Cup Game, Harris received the Gord Barwell Award from Athletes in Action.

The award is presented each year to a CFL player who exemplifies Christian character and leadership on and off the football field. Barwell fit that description ideally while playing for the Roughriders from 1964 to 1973.

Harris — the 2025 Grey Cup MVP — is the fourth Roughrider in an eight-season span to receive the Barwell award, following Henoc Muamba (2017), Cody Fajardo (2021) and Jake Wieneke (2023).

Harris and Wieneke, former teammates with the Alouettes, both signed with Saskatchewan on Feb. 14, 2023.

“Trevor is not only an elite quarterback but a man of deep faith and integrity,” read a written tribute to Harris that appeared on AIA’s social media platforms.

“His life off the field as a follower of Jesus, a husband and a father speaks just as strongly as his leadership on the field.”

IT’S A FIRST!

This one really surprised me, but the 112^th Grey Cup produced the first 25-17 score in Roughriders (or Regina Rugby Club) history.

I did the search while presuming that 25-17 isn’t an especially unlikely score. Wrong!

The score is a nice tribute to two legendary Roughriders receivers — Rhett Dawson (#25) and Joey Walters (#17).

Walters caught a touchdown pass in the Roughriders’ only 25-16 game, won by the visiting Calgary Stampeders on July 24, 1981.

There have been two 25-18 games … contests that may have produced the unlikeliest stat of all.

Those games were only a week apart!

Sept. 29, 1951: The Roughriders won 25-18 in Edmonton, with Glenn Dobbs throwing four touchdown passes.

Oct. 6, 1951: Roughriders 25, Edmonton 18 at Taylor Field. Two more TD passes for Dobbs.

From the how-times-have-changed department: The two games against Edmonton bracketed an Oct. 1, 1951 game in Calgary. The Roughriders won 22-12 at Mewata Stadium. Three more TD passes for Dobbs, making it nine in a week!

(In case you are wondering about 24-17, five Roughriders games have ended with that score.)

SHORT SNORTS

• Former Roughriders punter Jamie Boreham, now of the British Columbia Football Conference’s Kelowna Kodiaks, was named the Canadian Junior Football League’s coach of the year earlier this month. Boreham was the Roughriders’ punter in their 2007 Grey Cup win.

• One more U Sports awards note: Erik Andersen of the Western Mustangs was named the Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman. He was selected by the Roughriders in the second round (13^th overall) of the 2025 CFL Draft.

• Factor in Hundeby and Wiebe and 2025 Roughriders draftees combined for two national award winners and three conference honourees.

• Uncontested layups are tougher than they look.

ROLL CREDITS …

• Nice people who deserve a plug: Earl Grey, Don McDougall, Jill McDougall, Anton Amundrud, Liam Richards, Barb McCoy, Barclay McIvor, Sherri Lafrentz, Nancy Barwell Kraft, Jay Barwell, Trevor Harris, Jake Wieneke, Henoc Muamba, Cody Fajardo, Jared LaCoste, Jamie Boreham, Alan Ford, Jaxon Ford, Sally Ford, Barry Taman, Amelie Sarauer, Ashley Martin, Seth Hundeby, Daniel Wiebe, Maddy Thiele, Noah Sharpe, Elaine Shein and Ron Podbielski.